WHEATLAND – Due to a boom in business and new customer traffic, Kim Zimmerman at Touch of Color needed some help. Due to a need for change and a yen to enhance her creativity, former editor from the Platte County Record-Times, Ton Winter, was the solution to both needs.

Winter, who was with the Record-Times for almost 15 years in different capacities, began in the graphics area and remembers when automation was not even a factor. According to Winter, everything was done off the computer to make it ready for printing. Layout and design was pretty much done with hands, exacto knives, paste and light tables.

As the business became more digital, she took on more responsibility and at one time or another had worked in almost every area of the newspaper including the last few years where she was the editor, or the “editrix,” as she called herself.

Winter, who is a pastor’s wife, married to Lutheran Pastor Lincoln Winter at Trinity Lutheran Church not only was active outside the home, but also in the church and raising a family where the Winters have four children.

Although she was born in Indiana, she made a mark in bigger cities such as Chicago and was always interested in dance, culture and theater. While in Wheatland, she teaches ballet and dance, is active with the high school theater group and mentors her children who appear regularly in plays, band and dance recitals.

“It’s fun,” Winter said about her new position working with all things creative. “I love it. I get to be artistic, I get to do fun things, Kim and Marcia (Tiltrum) are a hoot to hang out with.”

For someone who wears many hats, the new position offers challenges of specific things she hasn’t done, but her expertise in the creative makes her a perfect fit for the position.

“I’m excited to be learning new techniques and new things I’ve never done before,” she said. “At the newspaper, mostly I got frustrated because I couldn’t spend all the time I wanted because there were too many other things to get done.”

Zimmerman encourages Winter’s creativity and welcomes her passion to take quality time on projects.

“Working on the paper deadlines, I always felt rushed,” she said. “Like, I couldn’t put my all into something because it just needed to get done and in print.”

For a business woman who has been known to be “the press” in Wheatland for so long, it seems funny not to have her in that position. Her family who sometimes would witness struggle and frustration with the head position of a newspaper are in total support of her move.

“My family is super excited,” she said. “They know that now they will have me in the evenings and the weekends and for events we’ll be able to be together. Before, my mind never stopped thinking about what I was going to put on the front page, where are my meetings at, what do I have to get covered this week.”

Winter’s life has gone from putting black and white on the page to putting creative living color into the community.